Zenith

ICT4D Week 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari has been named the new chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), reports ITRealms.With this development, President Buhari on Tuesday replaced the Togolese president, Faire Gnassigbe. He was named the new chairman at the end of the commission's meeting in Togo, Tuesday..The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu confirmed the emergence in a telephone chat.For him, "He did not ask for it, they just gave it to him.”But ECOWAS observers said invariably its the turn of Nigeria to assume the office based on ECOWAS Charter.Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and
Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed have formally dumped the All
Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reports ITRealms.

For industry observers, both moves by Saraki and Ahmed, to
return to PDP was a return to home party as they jointly decamped in 2014
following a coalition that gave birth to APC.

Senate President in his resignation letter to Nigerians dated
July 31, 2018 and made available to ITRealms,
said this is coming after extensive consultations, “I have decided to take my
leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

According to him, this is not a light decision, stressing
that “If anything at all, I have tarried for so long and did all that was
humanly possible, even in the face of great provocation, ridicule and flagrant
persecution, to give opportunity for peace, reconciliation and harmonious
existence.”

Further, “Perhaps, more significantly, I am mindful of the
fact that I carry on my shoulder a great responsibility for thousands of my
supporters, political associates and friends, who have trusted in my leadership
and have attached their political fortunes to mine. However, it is after an
extensive consultation with all the important stakeholders that we have come to
this difficult but inevitable decision to pitch our political tent elsewhere;
where we could enjoy greater sense of belonging and where the interests of the
greatest number of our Nigerians would be best served.

“While I take full responsibility for this decision, I will
like to emphasise that it is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me
by certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the minimum
conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging
did not exist.

“They have done everything to ensure that the basic rules of
party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among the
various elements within the party were blatantly disregarded.

“All governance principles which were required for a healthy
functioning of the party and the government were deliberately violated or
undermined. And all entreaties for justice, equity and fairness as basic
precondition for peace and unity, not only within the party, but also the
country at large, were simply ignored, or employed as additional pretext for
further exclusion.

“The experience of my people and associates in the past
three years is that they have suffered alienation and have been treated as
outsiders in their own party. Thus, many have become disaffected and
disenchanted. At the same time, opportunities to seek redress and correct these
anomalies were deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had
formed an impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not
recognized as “one of us”. This is why my people, like all self-respecting
people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere.

“I have had the privilege to lead the Nigerian legislature
in the past three years as the President of the Senate and the Chairman of the
National Assembly. The framers of our constitution envisage a degree of benign
tension among the three arms of government if the principle of checks and
balances must continue to serve as the building block of our democracy. In my
role as the head of the legislature, and a leader of the party, I have ensured
that this necessary tension did not escalate at any time in such a way that it
could encumber Executive function or correspondingly, undermine the
independence of the legislature. Over the years, I have made great efforts in
the overall interest of the country, and in spite of my personal predicament,
to manage situations that would otherwise have resulted in unsavoury
consequences for the government and the administration. My colleagues in the
Senate will bear testimony to this.

“However, what we have seen is a situation whereby every
dissent from the legislature was framed as an affront on the executive or as
part of an agenda to undermine the government itself. The populist notion of
anti-corruption became a ready weapon for silencing any form of dissent and for
framing even principled objection as “corruption fighting back”. Persistent
onslaught against the legislature and open incitement of the people against
their own representatives became a default argument in defence of any
short-coming of the government in a manner that betrays all too easily, a
certain contempt for the Constitution itself or even the democracy that it is
meant to serve.

“Unfortunately, the self-serving gulf that has been created
between the leadership of the two critical arms of government based on distrust
and mutual suspicion has made any form of constructive engagement impossible.
Therefore, anything short of a slavish surrender in a way that reduces the
legislature to a mere rubber stamp would not have been sufficient in procuring
the kind of rapprochement that was desired in the interest of all. But I have
no doubt in my mind, that to surrender this way is to be complicit in the
subversion of the institution that remains the very bastion of our democracy. I
am a democrat. And I believe that anyone who lays even the most basic claim to
being a democrat will not accept peace on those terms; which seeks to
compromise the very basis of our existence as the parliament of the people.

“The recent weeks have witnessed a rather unusual attempts
to engage with some of these most critical issues at stake. Unfortunately, the
discord has been allowed to fester unaddressed for too long, with dire
consequences for the ultimate objective of delivering the common good and
achieving peace and unity in our country. Any hope of reconciliation at this
point was therefore very slim indeed. Most of the horses had bolted from the
stable.

“The emergence of a new national party executives a few
weeks ago held out some hopes, however slender. The new party chairman has
swung into action and did his best alongside some of the Governors of APC and
His Excellency, the Vice President. I thank them for all their great efforts to
save the day and achieve reconciliation. Even though I thought these efforts
were coming late in the day, but seeing the genuine commitment of these
gentlemen, I began to think that perhaps it was still possible to reconsider
the situation.

However, as I have realized all along, there are some others
in the party leadership hierarchy, who did not think dialogue was the way
forward and therefore chose to play the fifth columnists. These individuals
went to work and ensured that they scuttled the great efforts and the good
intentions of these aforementioned leaders of the party. Perhaps, had these
divisive forces not thrown the cogs in the wheel at the last minutes, and in a
manner that made it impossible to sustain any trust in the process, the story
today would have been different.

“For me, I leave all that behind me. Today, I start as I
return to the party where I began my political journey, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP).

“When we left the PDP to join the then nascent coalition of
All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, we left in a quest for justice, equity
and inclusion; the fundamental principles on which the PDP was originally built
but which it had deviated from. We were attracted to the APC by its promise of
change. We fought hard along with others and defeated the PDP.

“In retrospect, it is now evident that the PDP has learnt
more from its defeat than the APC has learnt from its victory. The PDP that we
return to is now a party that has learnt its lessons the hard way and have
realized that no member of the party should be taken for granted; a party that
has realized that inclusion, justice and equity are basic precondition for
peace; a party that has realized that never again can the people of Nigeria be
taken for granted.

“I am excited by the new efforts, which seeks to build the
reborn PDP on the core principles of promoting democratic values; internal
democracy; accountability; inclusion and national competitiveness; genuine
commitment to restructuring and devolution of powers; and an abiding belief in
zoning of political and elective offices as an inevitable strategy for managing
our rich diversity as a people of one great indivisible nation called Nigeria.

“What we have all agreed is that a deep commitment to these
ideals were not only a demonstration of our patriotism but also a matter of
enlightened self-interest, believing that our very survival as political elites
of this country will depend on our ability to earn the trust of our people and
in making them believe that, more than anything else, we are committed to
serving the people.

“What the experience of the last three years have taught us
is that the most important task that we face as a country is how to reunite our
people. Never before had so many people in so many parts of our country felt so
alienated from their Nigerianness. Therefore, we understand that the greatest
task before us is to reunite the county and give everyone a sense of belonging
regardless of region or religion.

“Every Nigerian must have an instinctive confidence that he
or she will be treated with justice and equity in any part of the country
regardless of the language they speak or how they worship God. This is the
great task that trumps all. Unless we are able to achieve this, all other claim
to progress no matter how defined, would remain unsustainable.

“This is the task that I am committing myself to and I
believe that it is in this PDP, that I will have the opportunity to play my
part. It is my hope that the APC will
respect the choice that I have made as my democratic right, and understand that
even though we will now occupy a different political space, we do not
necessarily become enemies unto one another.”

Monday, July 30, 2018

Committee of E-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) has resolved
to promote digital solutions targeted at the bottom of the pyramid in a bid to
expedite access to financial services across Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Newly elected Chairman of CeBIH, Mr. Stanley Jacob gave this
insight in his acceptance speech at the election of new executives held in
Lagos at the Keystone Bank headquarters.

Stanley, who is also the Head of Consumer Distribution at
Ecobank Nigeria said the new executive will pursue three broad agenda namely
financial inclusion, digital security and strengthened collaboration amongst
industry stakeholders.

He stressed that CeBIH, under his leadership, will work
tirelessly with other stakeholders to reduce financial exclusion which currently
is over 40 percent in Nigeria as well as bridge the wide digital divide in the
country.

“As CeBIH we will actively collaborate with industry to
provide the needed financial services at the right pricing to the bottom of the
pyramid. We will also ensure adequate capacity building for all stakeholders to
equip them in tackling the exclusion challenge” he said.

Jacom also pointed out that CeBlH will pull industry
resources and work with the regulators to promote an industry approach for
combating cyber-security and payment frauds, stressing that financial literacy
campaigns and robust customer education will also be a key tool to achieving
this.

“This new Executive Council will strengthen collaboration by
promoting the Shared Agency Network Facility (SANEF) with a view to ensuring
that the expected benefits are delivered to consumers; partnerships with other
financial institutions (OFIs) and FinTechs to deliver improved financial
services; Research and case studies to drive emerging payments”, he said.

Immediate past Chairman, CeBIH, Dele Adeyinka charged the
new executives to continue with the mission and vision of the group, which is
using collaboration with drive financial inclusion and adoption of electronic
payment, which are what CeBIH stands for today.

He noted that under the leadership of the outgoing
executives, CeBIH reached out to various industry stakeholders and this
initiative yielded results which became evident through better engagement of
CeBIH in issues pertaining to policy formulation in the industry”

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has named the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) as this week’s inductee into the “Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame” for consistently violating the provisions of the FOI Act over the past seven years, thereby denying Nigerians the right to information in the agricultural development sector, reports ITRealms.

The ARCN was established by the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria Act of 1999 with its functions including preparing annual budgets for agricultural research, training and extension programmes of the institutes under its aegis and receiving grants for allocation to agricultural institutes for the implementation of their annual programmes as well as to universities and other bodies for special research or training projects.

Announcing the induction of the ARCN into the FOI Hall of Shame in a statement in Lagos, MRA’s Programme Officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, highlighted several failings of the public institution regarding the implementation of the FOI Act which led to its censure by MRA.

He noted that although the ARCN has an active website, it has not taken advantage of this to fulfill its proactive disclosure obligations by publishing on the website the categories of information listed for proactive disclosure under Section 2(3) of the FOI Act.

According to Mr. Adewale, there is no information on ARCN’s website regarding the fund allocations for agricultural research purposes; the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds of the institution; the names, salaries, titles, and dates of employment of employees and officers of the institution; the list of files containing applications for contracts, permits, grants, licenses or agreements, among several other categories of information, records and documents listed in Section 2 (3) of the FOI Act that must be proactively published by every public institution.

He criticized the ARCN for its lack of responsiveness to requests for information from members of the public, citing in particular, its refusal to respond to an application for information dated August 2, 2016, submitted to it by Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a non-governmental organization based in Abuja, for a list of the contracts awarded by the ARCN in 2015 and its procurement plan for 2016.

The governorship candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in
the forthcoming September 22 governorship election in Osun State, Mr. Wole
Adedoyin has promised to provide the public school students with access to
quality education, reports ITRealms.

This is coming as HDP named Olawale Adewumi as deputy governorship
candidate in the state, even as the party unveiled its website and social media
handles including Facebook, in readiness for the election.

ITRealms reports that HDP
in Osun State picked Mr. Olawale Adesoye Adewumi as its deputy governorship candidate at the
weekend, reiterating to provide facilities for the public schools including all the basic facilities, as part of
his commitment for winning the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

Adedoyin disclosed this weekend, saying the state of education
in Osun state needs repositioning, while also committing to a list of citizen’s
demands to ensure quality education in government schools.

He however commended the incumbent governor of Osun State,
Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola for rebranding the face of education in the
state.

Mr. Adedoyin promised to implement broad based learning so that
students may possess the necessary knowledge and disciplinary tools while in
school.

He further stated that it was her party’s priority to prioritise
scientific education, for which they will train teachers and upgrade
curriculum. Adedoyin’s manifesto focuses exclusively on science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Mr. Adedoyin also spoke about increasing the budget allocated
for education while also high-lightening the need to strictly regulate and
monitor private and public schools.

Finally, Adedoyin has promised to initiate and commit to a
charter that will be based on the demands of parents, teachers and community
members in Osun state. The charter will outline the need to upgrade schools
from primary to tertiary institution while also highlighting the need for
constructing science and computer labs.

The charter will make it mandated that more government schools
be renovated and constructed at every level while also improving the quality of
education. The charter included that libraries should also be established
alongside science and computer labs, teachers will be trained in modern
teaching practices and that healthy co-curricular activities be made more
popular.

Meanwhile, as part of Hope Democratic Party (HDP) effort to take their
campaign to the grassroots and nooks and crannies of the state as well as in a
bid to connect and network with the grassroots people of Osun State, has
unveiled social media handles including Facebook for campaigns and sanitization
of voters on the party’s governorship candidate and the blueprints of the party
for the citizens of the state.

According to HDP’s publicity secretary in the state, Mr. Dada
Olusegun said the party and her governorship candidate have designed friendly
blogs and Facebook accounts aim at showcasing the programmes and manifestoes of
the party and her candidate for the forthcoming governorship election.

Also Twitter and Instagram are part of the social media
platforms created alongside the blogs and the Facebook account to be used for
his party’s campaign.

Speaking further on the issue, Olusegun said this action is
necessary as to win the hearts and vote of the peoples come September 22nd.

The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressive Congress
(APC) has resolved to sacked the Balogun Fulani-led state executive committee for
a fresh congress, reports ITRealms.

Arising from a meeting of the chapter in Oro, on Sunday, 29
July 2018, ITRealms gathered that
they resolved among other things to sack Balogun Fulani-led Kwara APC executive
committee with immediate effect and a fresh congress that will include all
Kwara APC members and those who are just coming into the party be held at the
various levels to constitute a new executive.

“That all those who got appointments by deceit, hiding under
the facade of being party men and women, should immediately resign such
appointments or be fired.

“That the recent gale of defections has now put the APC in a
position of true majority in the National Assembly, as those who remain are the
ones who are truly committed to the ideals of our great Party

“That all members and supporters of our great party restate
their unflinching support for President Muhammadu Buhari and assure him of a
harvest of votes from Kwara State in the 2019 General Elections,”

The communique from the meeting made available to ITRealms and endorsed by the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, urged “all members should remain
calm because there is no cause for alarm.”

One of the greatest scandals of our time is that while some people do not have enough to eat, some others are dying from obesity and diseases associated with over eating. There is so much wealth in our world. But it is concentrated in the hands of some, while others scramble for the leftovers.Many of us well-meaning people are concerned about the poverty in our world. Many of us contribute regularly to various international charities that help the poor, such as Concern and Trocaire. But have you ever stopped to wonder why, despite the billions that have been spent on international Aid, poverty is still on the increase. As the saying goes, the rich get richer, and the poor become poorer.To answer the question on why poverty is increasing in our world, let’s cast our minds back to the time of the famine in Ireland. We all know that the failure of potatoes was not the only reason why hundreds of thousands died from the famine. Yes, potatoes failed. But if there should be 100% failure of potatoes in Ireland today, you can bet that there will be no famine at all. People will still survive. People will still have enough to eat. Hundreds of thousands died from the Irish famine because of the nature of the externally influenced socio-economic structure of the then Irish society.Something similar is happening in our world today. It is not because they are lazy that people are poor. It is the present structure of international trade, the present structure of international economics, and the present structure of international relations that make people poor, and keep them in poverty. So much so that the little the poor have, and the little you contribute to make their lives better, evaporate from their hands, and go back to make the rich richer, because of the way international economics is structured.You might then ask, what shall we do? Do we stop giving to charities for international development? No. we should not stop. We should continue to give to international charities to help the poor. Their work provides temporary relief to people in need. But let us know that if we really want to end poverty in our world, we need to change the way we do business. We need to pull down all unjust economic structures that keep the poor in their poverty and enable the rich to become richer.As individuals we might feel intimidated that there is nothing we can do. But that’s not true. There is a lot we can do to change our world and end poverty. We can begin by putting pressure on our political leaders to help bring the change. We can begin by changing the way we do business.Our efforts may look small in our eyes. But as today’s gospel passage teaches us, they may be the only five loaves that Jesus is waiting to take and multiply and feed the whole world. Jesus wants to change our world and end poverty. But he can’t do it without our help. He cannot force us, for he respects our freewill. He wants to work with us to make our world a better place. Let us offer to Jesus the five loaves with which he will end poverty. If there is any doubt in your mind about what God can do with the little efforts we make, remember people like Martin Luther King Jnr, Oscar Romero, Mahatma Gandhi, and see how God increased and multiplied what they did, and created a beautiful change.*Contributed by Rev.Father Simon Peter DzungweITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Friday, July 27, 2018

For those eager to celebrate the launch of a national carrier, let me warn that the stunt pulled off last week by the federal government through its transportation minister responsible for aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, at the Farnborough Airshow in England, was nothing more than a statement of intent. It was a cleverly choreographed political sound bite, complete with photoshopped images of an aircraft depicting Nigerian livery. It was targeted at fooling the public into believing that the administration was sticking to its campaign promise to establish a carrier flying the Nigerian flag.

What was sorely missing from that presentation was the business case for the so-called airline to be named Nigeria Air, investors that had indicated interest in taking a stake in the airline, a lease/procurement plan with aircraft manufacturers and lessors for the acquisition of aircraft, management and technical services agreements with a prospective operator for the airline, a realisable blueprint for the actualisation of an airline hub possibly in Lagos, targeting first the West African sub-region, and a plan for the establishment of a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility as an additional revenue stream for the proposed airline.

It must be mentioned that at the presentation at Farnborough, Sirika’s audience was made up solely of officials of his ministry and the regulatory agencies in the Nigerian aviation sector. Not a single prospective investor, aircraft leasing firm or manufacturer, or advisory firm was in sight. The sole foreigner at the Farnborough event was the cameraman hired by the transportation ministry.

At the very minimum, the so-called advisors led by Airline Management Group (AMG), which the federal government appointed a year ago at a princely fee of N1.5 million, should have been at the airshow to present their outline business cases for the airline, MRO, aerotropolis, and so on. AMG was named the lead in the advisory consortium after Lufthansa Consulting pulled out five months ago. Citing conflict of interest as one of the reasons for Lufthansa’s withdrawal, Sirika added last February that his ministry and the German firm were unable to agree on the contract terms for the advisory services, requiring an upfront payment of 75% of the contract fees that would have been payable in euros into an escrow account with a foreign bank. But I digress.

Sirika clearly went to the airshow unprepared. He also failed to address the challenging Nigerian aviation environment characterised by under-capitalised airlines, safety concerns, jet fuel shortages, an unattractive fiscal regime, the absence of world-class aviation infrastructure, and shoddy regulation. Even outside Nigeria, the minister was unmindful of the litany of unprofitable, struggling airlines on the African continent and beyond. Examples abound of defunct, bankrupt and unprofitable national and government-owned carriers ranging from Sabena, Swissair, Alitalia, Iberia, British Airways (pre-privatisation), Air Afrique, South African Airways, EgyptAir to Kenya Airways.

It would be futile using Ethiopian Airways and Emirates Airline as examples of state-owned airlines that have succeeded. They operate unique models that are difficult to replicate. Whereas Ethiopian Airways has a government-protected monopoly on its domestic routes, has benefitted from economic growth and stability averaging 10% over the past decade, provides a plethora of services including maintenance, catering and training to other airlines, boasts a young and modern fleet, purportedly pays zero landing fees at Ethiopian airports, and controls a large chunk of the air traffic in Africa; Emirates, supported by the government of Dubai’s investment arm, has been accused by its global competitors of benefitting from hidden state subsidies, maintaining a too cozy relationship with Dubai’s airport authority and its aviation regulator – both of which are state-owned entities – and benefitting from reduced borrowing costs by taking advantage of its government shareholder’s sovereign borrower status. But the allegations against Emirates have been debunked, with the airline pointing to the bailouts provided by the United States government to US-based airlines as a substantial form of state assistance.

What was more bemusing was Sirika’s declaration that Nigeria Air would fly on 162 routes! How was this predetermined without the input of investors? Shouldn’t that be the responsibility of the advisers and investors to determine the viability of routes? Rather than dissipate energy on the establishment of a new national carrier that will never see the light of day, Sirika should focus on the low hanging fruit right in front of him. For all intents and purposes, Arik Air, Aero Contractors and the remnants of the defunct Air Nigeria (successor of Virgin Nigeria) currently belong to the Nigerian government. With the still operational Arik and Aero Contractors under the control of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the latter, with the assistance of reputable international consultants, should begin the process of underwriting the liabilities of both airlines, hiving off and disposing of their non-core assets, and merging the airlines into one entity. After the corporate restructuring process, which must include a share restructuring strategy that leaves the owners of the legacy airlines with some minority stake in the emerging entity, the new airline should be sold to a core strategic investor capable of injecting fresh capital into it and expanding its fleet and operations.

This avenue available to Sirika is a surer bet of getting an airline with a Nigerian identity off the ground. He needs to bury his ill-fated attempt to start an airline from scratch. The Nigerian government does not need a 5% stake in any airline, nor does it need to provide a take off grant of $300 million. Instead, more resources should be deployed in improving airport infrastructure and the concession of Nigeria’s viable airports to the private sector. As it stands, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has proven to be a basket case. Like the phantom Nigeria Air, it needs to be buried and confined to the dustbins of history.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has reacted
to the gale of defection of some federal law makers across the Senate and House
of Representatives, saying Kwara State is still firm in support of President
Mohammadu Buhari, reports ITRealms.

The minister in a press statement available to ITRealms on
Thursday, said that against the backdrop of the recent events at the National
Assembly, expressing appreciation to all members of All Progressive Congress
(APC) in Kwara State.

“I want to most sincerely thank all APC members and supporters
in Kwara State for their unflinching commitment to ensuring that the party emerges
stronger than ever in the state,” he said.

As said by him, that commitment has been reflected in the
overwhelming support and solidarity that we have received, not just from our
party members but also from other parties and stakeholders across the state,
since the melodrama at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

“In particular, there has been an expression of overwhelming
love and support for President Muhammadu Buhari from across Kwara, in the wake
of the defections by federal legislators from Kwara,

“I call on all our members and supporters in Kwara to remain
calm, because there is no cause for alarm.

“We are currently consulting with the national leadership of our
great party, with a view to coming up with a programme of action that will take
into consideration the recent developments.

“Our members and supporters should have no doubt whatsoever that
whatever decisions we take after the consultations will be in their overall
best interest,” he said.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Google Station has made its debut with the launch in
Lagos, to provide free high speed Wireless Fidelity (Wifi) to millions of
Nigerians, reports ITRealms.

This came at the second Google for Nigeria event hosted at Landmark Event
Centre, Lagos, which the firm used to unveil a number of big announcements
aimed at helping more people in Nigeria, and across Africa, benefit from the
opportunities the web has to offer.

In a bid to make the internet more easily accessible to
people in Nigeria, Google is launching Google Station for Nigeria: a program to
provide high quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in partnership with 21st
Century, one of the largest fibre network providers in Nigeria.

“Google Station will be rolling out in 200 locations in five
cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019, bringing Wi-Fi to millions of
people,” says Google Nigeria Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor. “Sites
include markets, transport hubs, shopping malls, universities, and more.
Nigeria is the fifth country to get Google Station, after India, Indonesia,
Thailand and Mexico.”

Google is also making search more powerful for ordinary
Africans. Job search launched in March in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, and
is now rolling out in 29 new countries. In Nigeria, Google is launching a
search experience that allows users to explore health conditions based on
symptoms, as well as recipe search for anyone who needs a little food
inspiration.

StreetView’s Discover Nigeria gallery has been expanded to
include more of Nigeria’s wonders including the National Museum in Lagos, Olumo
Rock in Abeokuta, Millenium Park in Abuja, and Lekki Conservation Centre.

Additionally, Google announced the
update of several products from its “Go” initiative, which were launched in the
past year. The Go product suite aims to give people with low bandwidth
connections and low-RAM devices the best possible Google experience. These new
features include:

Google Go: will soon read web pages out loud and highlight
each word so users can follow along.

YouTube Go: users will be able to browse downloaded YouTube
Go videos, saved as .yt files, right from the gallery on their phones.

Google Maps Go: will now provide users with turn-by-turn
directions, whether they’re travelling by car, by bus or on foot.

Android Go: Launched in Nigeria and 29 other African
countries earlier this year, the Go OS gives people coming online for the first
time a powerful and reliable smartphone experience. Across Africa, Transsion,
Nokia, Huawei, and Mobicel have launched various devices, starting at just over
17,000 Naira.

The collaboration is in acknowledgement of the pivotal role of Information Technology in driving the present day economy which is reflected in the introduction of process for Ease of Doing Business, e-Government, Cashless Economy and Paperless System Of Government.

PSIN is a Management Development Institute (MDI) with a mandate to provide competency-based and demand driven training to Public Servants, using information and cutting-edge technology services in order to enhance their professional, technical, managerial and leadership capabilities.

A press statement by the Head (Press and Public Relations Unit) in PSIN, Ekaete Umo, said the Administrator of the agency, Dr. Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo, would be establishing collaborative partnerships with relevant organisations to promote organisational excellence and long-life learning in the Public Service.

According to her, HIIT PLC, an Information Technology Company that offers IT Training/Education, Solution Development and Services, Publishing, Outsourcing and e-Learning Solution Development and Implementation would be partnering with the PSIN to provide defined ICT services.

“As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, HIIT PLC is offering Free Tuition And Training in Digital Literacy Course worth N5 million to children and wards of PSIN staff. The scholarship covers 160 participants.

“By this gesture, HIIT is ‘catching them young’ and helping to build the capacity of participants in Information Technology to enable them have a solid base to launch them into the technology driven age. With a foundation like this, the new generation will smoothly key into the e-government policy of the Federal Government”, Umoh stated.

She said that Obatoyinbo is currently repositioning the PSIN to key into the transformation process and play a leading role in the achievement of the Strategic Plan of the Head of Service.

The repositioning is line with the transformation process of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation as contained in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP).

In continuation of its drive to
engender innovations, the National Information Technology Development Agency
(NITDA), Wednesday, lifted Katsina State on the scale of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) with an Innovation Hub, reports ITRealms.

The hub located at Katsina State
Institute of Technology and Management (KSITM), ITRealms gathered, is one among the six
(6) of its kind to be established by NITDA across the geo-political zones of
the country.

Katsina State in the North
Western region is one of the most populous states in Nigeria with a high number
of productive youths, and the State also has given adequate attention to the
ICT sector in the past through increasing commitment to exploit the latest
trends in ICT for the development of the State.

The Executive Governor, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello
Masari, who was ably represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr
Mustapha Mohammed Inuwa, noted that Katsina State has long recognized the
importance of ICT and in the pursuit of using ICT for national development, the
State has established Kastina State Institute of Technology and Management
(KSITM) to offer training in national diploma and degree certificates for
Katsina State indigenes and Nigerians at large. KSITM, which hosts the ICT
Incubation Hub has been given unrelenting attention to champion the buildup
process towards ultimate e-Governance in the state through Research and
Development to become a veritable platform for socio-economic upliftment of the
teeming unemployed youths who will venture into competitive global
entrepreneurship in ICT.

The Director General of National
Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami,
PhD, FBCS, FIIM, while delivering the keynote address stated that Katsina State
has been providing enabling environment that encourages strategic partnerships
on initiatives that attract investments in ICT and other sectors of the
economy. Citing example with the establishment of KSITM to drive technological
innovations in the State and environs; the MTN Livestock Tracking Solution; and
the Mobile Electricity Service are some of the strategic partnership that will
transform the State. All these informed the choice of Katsina State and KSITM
to host the Hub.

The DG further stated that the
country under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking to
minimize her dependency on oil by diversifying the economy to evolve entirely
new industries and enable the existing ones. The main driver of these
industries is ICT. Therefore, we must encourage and empower our pool of young
talented youths to take advantage of the digital era.

Innovation Hub is a social work
space and research centre that provides the subject matter expertise on
technology trends, knowledge and strategic innovation management. It is also an
avenue to enhance learning and research through digital access to academic
resources in educational institutions. The Hub is designed to increase digital
penetration, provide youths with access to digital and online content through
eLearning applications for effective learning and self-employment.

NITDA, ITRealms recalls, is responsible
for developing and regulating the IT sector of the country backed by NITDA ACT,
2007, with mandate to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and
coordinate other general IT development and regulation in the country through
the formation of standards, policies, frameworks, guidelines, developmental
programmes and initiatives.

Vodacom Business Nigeria has
declared that digitization could create more sustainable Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

According to a press
statement made available to ITRealms,
quoted the acting Executive Head of Operations, Vodacom Business Nigeria,
Olumide Idowu as noting that the country is one of the fastest developing
countries in the world and the most populous nation in the Sub-Sahara Africa
continent.

Matching population
growth with infrastructural development, he said, has become an issue of great
concern across the country, stressing that finding solutions to this growing
concern, was the focus of the discourse at the recently concluded Information
Communications Technology and Telecommunications (ICTEL) Expo, 2018 organised
by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The event which
recently took place at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island brought
together various stakeholders within the Information Communications Technology
(ICT) industry to deliberate on ways to increase efficiency in the country
through digitization.

“Leaders around the
world are committed to smart city building as they attempt to chart the course
towards the development of their cities in order to meet social, economic, and
environmental challenges,” he said.

Idowu noted that
Nigeria is at a pivotal moment in its technological revolution and the current
lack of infrastructure provides a ready springboard for the utilization of
Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to create a smarter and a more efficient
nation. By using IoT technology, which is commercially available today, a host
of intelligently connected services such as efficient healthcare in rural
communities become possible a reality.”

In the last year,
Vodacom Business Nigeria, in collaboration with some State Governments, made
significant strides in the development of smart solutions for problems facing
rural communities within the State. In the area of healthcare, a solution was
deployed to help increase the availability of essential medication by
monitoring drug stock levels, improving the delivery of healthcare for citizens
who access public health services. In education, Vodacom has also launched a
mobile school management solution which provides real-time visibility of all
management activities at schools.

The solution has been
deployed to over 4000 public schools in Nigeria. While, in the area of
agriculture, our connected farmer solution provides a platform for connecting
various stakeholders within the agricultural ecosystem to create better
accountability and efficiency within the industry. Other solutions such as
payment solutions, backup solutions, energy, utility and security solutions are
just a few examples of smart solutions available within the Nigerian context.
Idowu stated: “The significance of digitization cannot be overstated in
creating a smarter, more efficient and more sustainable economic environment in
Nigeria. The sooner the shift to a digitalized system happens, the faster the
nation can build a competitive advantage on the global stage and she can begin
to reap the social, economic and environmental benefits that are sure to
follow.”